What is a Search Engine?
A search engine is an internet application that queries sets of data to find matches to search strings that a users enters.  Search engines work similarly to other database query tools, however, the methods that are used by search engines allow for a greater diversity of searching possibilities. The META tags, mentioned on the "What is a Web Page" section, are used by search engines as a query point.  Some search engines have an automated system that frequentl;y scans new and existing domain names (whatever.com, whereever.edu, etc.) for new web pages, and includes those in its searchable database. Some search engines include a large database of webpages that are presorted, such as Yahoo.

The primary use of search engines is to find what you are looking for in an EXTREMELY large database.  To successfully search the internet, you should attempt to make your searches as specific as possible.  In this case, one tacit to take is to use advanced searching tools.  On the HotBot search engine, you can select the "supersearch" option, and choose to search by geographic location, by date, and by type of file (for example, if you are looking only for movies, you can select only those files with the .mov extension). On the Excite search pages, you can choose personalized searching tool, and have the search engine bring you daily results on topics that are particularly interesting without you having to do the same search each day.

Once you have typed in a query and pressed the search button, a list of web pages that are matched to your query are returned to you.  If you search returned no matches, you might want to try to make you search more broad, or search wider in scope.  For example, if you searched for an "exact phrase" in HotBot, you might want to try searching for "all the words".  In most cases, your search will return more than a few pages matched to your query.  The search engine will typically inform you of the number of pages that match your query.  In addition, you will see a percentage next to the name of the web page, which indicates the percent of match to your search.  For example, 78% means that your query turned up on this page with a 78% match.  This may mean that 78% of the words you typed in appear together on this page in the text or title, or that the 78% of the words you typed in actually appear here. You best option when deciding which page to visit is to read the text below the name of the page. These are the first few words of the website, and is the best indicator as to whether this page will be of use to you in your search, next to actually clicking on the link to find out for yourself.

When you are searching, you most likely will run to a "cookie" or two.  A cookie is a website quering you!  The cookie (short for fortune cookie) is actually a small file that searches the settings in your web browser to collect information like the Internet Service Provider (ISP) you are using, the speed of your modem, the version of your web browser, and the Internet Protocol (I.P.) address you are using.  Cookies are generally not a terrible thing.  They are used by web marketing companies to examine who is looking at their information,  what parts of their pages are being used, how often you visit this pages, and when you visit.  A cookie cannot be used to search your entire harddrive, see what you are wearing, or scan your home for valuables.  However, any information you have given to your ISP, or you have typed into the web browser or into a form on a web page will be available.  For example, if you visit Amazon.com often (a web-based bookstore), information on the orders you have made might be saved.  It is important to note that the information is only from the computer you are using currently, cookies can't follow you around and find out what you do when you login from school, from work, and from home, assuming you use different ISPs from these other places. Don't be too alarmed when you see a "cookie", but do be aware that any information you type in in a "non-secure" form or in your web browsers will be available.

This is also a good point to talk about 'secure' vs 'insecure' web pages.  Most web pages are 'insecure'. You can find out if a page is secure by looking in the lower left hand corner of the screen. If you see a broken key or an unlocked lock, you are at an insecure web page (this page is insecure).  If you fill out a form on an insecure web page, that information is NOT encrypted, and could be seen by others who grab your packets.  Grabbing packets on the internet is A LOT harder than tapping someone's phone lines.  What happens is someone might login to a server computer and look at the files being send.  This haquer (the correct spelling of "Hacker") has to find a way to get around some complicated passwords, and has to move VERY quickly.  Most internet servers have alarms and software installed on them so that when someone goes into the system suspiciously, the entire system will shut down.  Your phone system is NOT this secure.  However, you should be aware of what you are typing into a web page, and if you feel uncomfortable, simply don't do it.

With all these warnings, you will still find searching incredibly interesting.  It is unbelievable the information you can find out on the net.  Happy Searching to you!
Some Search engines to check out:

All-in-One Search
A set of subject-organized pages.
Alta Vista Search
An automatically generated index to Web sites and Usenet .
CNET Search.com
CNET brings surfers over 250 ways to search the Net.
Excite
A fast and friendly tool for searching the full-text of web sites.
Find-It!
Like the ALL-IN-ONE Search Page.
Hotbot
A whip-fast database of over 55 million Web pages.
i-Explorer
A competitor for Yahoo's crown as the largest directory .
InfoSeek
A great database of Web pages.
Internet Sleuth
If you know your subject, the Internet Sleuth can help you  find it.
LookSmart
A directory of over 150,000 Web site reviews.
Lycos
A huge database of Web sites.
Magellan
Magellan went online in mid-August, 1995 and instantly became one of most popular search engines.
MetaCrawler
An excellent search tool that combines results from other search engines.
MusicSearch
A search engine and directory for the world of music.
Open Text Index
A crawler-based index that claims to add over 50,000 new sites a week.
PlanetSearch
A crawler-based search engine.
Yahoo
A searchable index of WWW resources, organized by subject.
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